How old were you when you first learned to cook and what was the first thing

United States
November 5, 2007 11:00am CST
How old were you when you first learned to cook..? What was the first item you learned to cook? I would say I was just a little girl and the first thing I cooked was some toast..:)
5 people like this
23 responses
@SViswan (12051)
• India
6 Nov 07
Though I used to experiment as a young adult (most of which were disasters), I learnt to cook real food only after my first born was a year old (had no choice...if I didn't cook he would starve). The first thing I learnt was to make yoghurt..lol (because I love it). Well, technically you can't call it cooking. I learnt to cook some of our ethnic food first.
2 people like this
@SViswan (12051)
• India
6 Nov 07
I forgot to mention that my older son has been helping me since he was 4 (I don't want him to end up like me).
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
You learned to make yogurt? So how does one make yogurt. I also like yogurt really well. I prefer the yogurt with fruit in it though.
1 person likes this
@SViswan (12051)
• India
6 Nov 07
lol..it's real easy. But I don't know fruit yoghurt. To make youghurt, you add a tsp of yoghurt in warm milk (it's importnat that the milk is warm..not hot or cold for the consistency to be right) and let it sit in a warm place till it sets (which would be a couple of hours if it's warm and longer if it's cold). I'm sorry...I've never had fruit yoghurt before...do you have fruit chunks in them or is it flavoured? If it's flavour, you can add it to the warm milk along with the tester.
2 people like this
• Egypt
6 Nov 07
I just studied about cooking. I'm 20th now, and I think is too late to cook. :p But it's no problem. Late is better than never right.....
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
If you are just studying cooking..what is the first item you have learned to cook?
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Nothing wrong with fried eggs..even if it wasnt nice..the first of anything more then likely will not be perfect.
1 person likes this
• Egypt
6 Nov 07
Em...fried egg...Yeaah I just failed to make a nice fried egg....:(
2 people like this
• India
6 Nov 07
I like my foods cooked by my mother.when it is served by mother it become more delicious.once when mother wasnot there at home.i tried to make Chappthi and a curry. That was a comedy.i made chappthi,when i tasted i realised that i 4get to add salt.and about curry,it wasnot even not to taste. That was my first experience in cooking when i was at 12 years.
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Even though it may not have turned out the best; I bet your mom was proud of you for trying. 12 years old is a young age to cook..so kuddos to you that you made the effort to try your hand at cooking so young;)
1 person likes this
@brimia (6581)
• United States
5 Nov 07
My siblings and I (starting when I was around 7) used to cook from recipes out of this box my mom had. There were lots of cards with pictures of the recipe on each one. There was a section called "Recipes Children Can Make" from which I made pancakes from scratch and a yummy upside down apple bread.
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Upside down apple bread? I never ever heard of such a thing. How do you make upside down apple bread? Do you still know the recipe?
@brimia (6581)
• United States
6 Nov 07
I wish I did still have it. I think my brother has the recipe box now so I'll have to borrow it and copy some of my favorite ones.
6 Nov 07
I was very lucky, my grandmother was a head cook in a household and she and my mother between them taught me to cook from a very young age. I think I was around 5 or 6 years old when I began to cook simple things and I guess my first real single handed effort was making what Gran called *fire biscuits* which were basically a simple biscuit mix which I made into small flat patties and cooked on a hot plate on her old Aga
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Thank God for all the grandmas in the world who take time to teach us little things..like baking biscuits ..and in you case "fire biscuits"
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
6 Nov 07
I was 6 and I cooked a full course of breakfast. Scrambled eggs, sausage patties, toast and hashbrowns. Tasty!
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
6 years old and cooking at the stove?? Wow, did your mom have the fire extinguisher handy in case you should start a fire? Sounds yummy..though, are you still cooking the full course breakfast?
1 person likes this
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
7 Nov 07
Actually Grandma was the first to trust me with cooking. My mom knew I could cook but didn't trust me as much at the stove. She'd be there with you holding a fire extinguisher. And yes I'm still cooking. Its great!
1 person likes this
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
5 Nov 07
My grandmother taught me much about cooking and baking starting from about the age of 7. First we learned about baking, and the first things we baked were strudels, and then cakes and cookies. We baked more than cooked. The first thing I ever made totally on my own was homemade bread at about the age of 10. My parents went out for the evening and I started cooking. When they got back the bread was on it's second rise and I remember mom saying I had to stay up until it was all done and baked, lol. (Which I did) The first things I taught my girls how to make was microwave scrambled eggs (at about the age of 7.) They still make them when they're in a rush. It's nice when you're allowed to help in the kitchen when you're very young, it makes you appreciate the labors involved, and makes you want to learn and do more.
1 person likes this
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
7 Nov 07
The very first thing I got to bake was cookies. The second thing was a lemon meringue pie. (This is funny hahhaa) I made the pie without any help from Gramma. She turned me loose in the kitchen and said I'd helped her do it enough times she felt confident I could do it alone. Well....back in those days the packet of lemon stuff had little flavor capsules in them. (Unlike today's brands) I started making it by the sink shelf, and over head was a 3-cornered shelf where Gramma kept her medicines. As I was stirring the lemon stuff, I noticed these capsules floating in the mix. I thought 'Oh nooooooo, I must have had one of Gramma's pills fall in from up on the shelf!!!' Soooooooo...I took the capsules out and threw them away, and then forgot to tell Gramma about it. Gramma lived with us in the farm house, so at supper time she came over from her quarters and had supper with us. I brought out the pie for dessert. Everybody ooohed and ahhhhed because the meringue was so high and fluffy. Papa had this proud look on his face, and everybody took a bite about the same time. All those smiles turned into puckers (like when you eat a lemon without any sweetener.) Embarrassed, I told them about Gramma's medicine capsules falling in, and how I'd taken them out. Everybody started laughing, and Gramma, wiping tears out of her eyes, said that was the sweetener and was supposed to dissolve into the mix. We all had a good laugh over that one for years, and we all make that 'pucker face' when we're remembering it haahaha. Geez, until this thread I hadn't thought about that in years!
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Nov 07
Cookies..I use to love to bake them..there was one recipe ..I would love to find again: molasses oatmeal cookie..those were the best tasting ones..and I recall getting them from a Betty Crocker book which is long gone..
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Ah, you learned to bake and make the niceties of life: cookies, cakes and sweet things.. Which of all of them was the very first you made ?
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Nov 07
I would say 10 or so. I dont rememeber the first thing I cooked. I suppose it was something for dinner. My dad taught me to cook. His family owned a resteraunt so he can cook well.
• United States
15 Nov 07
Wonderful.and now, do you take time to cook or does someone else in your household do the cooking?
@jeanbug23 (992)
• Philippines
6 Nov 07
You won't believe it but I first learned how to cook when I was in my mid twenties. During my teen years, I never knew how to cook even how to fry eggs. lol..but when you want something done right, you will learn and that's when you knew you are disciplined.
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
You are so right, necessity is the mother of invention. Sometimes we learn things alot quicker if its a matter of cook or starve;)
@irishmist (3814)
• United States
5 Nov 07
The first thing I learned to cook was boiled potatoes. I think I was 12 years old. I also learned to bake peanut butter cookies from a recipe in my moms trues story magizine.
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
Boiled potatoes..Now that can be almost as difficult and making toast;) I would imagine you had fun making those peanut butter cookies. Do you still make them?
1 person likes this
@laurika (4532)
• United States
14 Nov 07
I don't remeber how old I was, but from a little child my mum always ask to come help her to the kitchen. At first I was just helping her like puting the egg on the biscuits or just a little simple things. Then later on I was making pastry by myself and cakes. But I was around 12 years old. She never really teach me to cook, more waht she teach me,was baing the cookies and cakes. But probably first thing I cooked was tea. LOL
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
That is alright though..at least you helped out around the kitchen..Sometimes parents prefer to do things themselves rather then have a big mess to clean up afterwards.
• United States
14 Nov 07
I was seven years old when I started learning to cook. The first thing I made was scrambled eggs and sausage. Then pancakes, then french toast. Eventually I migrated a little further away from breakfast and learned how to make hamburgers and how to cut up and cook chicken and fish. I had all that down by the time I was 10. My grnadmother loved having the help.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
Actually I would think that a hamburger might be easier to cook then an egg sometimes..after all you have to do is make a patty and watch it brown:)
• United States
6 Nov 07
Actually, I was FOUR. I know, you don't believe it. I didn't believe it either until I recently reunited with my cousin. Her first words when I walked through the door was "OMG, I remember when you were just four years old and standing on a chair at the stove makin chicken and dumplins". The whole family had to work the farm so, my Dad would drive me home on his tractor and drop me off around 5 and then the whole family would come home for dinner around 6.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
4 years old..what did you do at that age..stir the pot? or help fold over the dough that held the chicken inside?
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
See, I knew you woudn't believe it :-)
• India
5 Nov 07
i cant forget that day when i was sitting in my first cookery class.at that time i was sweet 15 when i first started to cook.in the cookery class i remember,more than focussing on the cake that was being baked,i was staring at the students sitting there because they were adults and i found myself embarrased.. that time i realised that i was so small for that.. did i mention cake somewhere??yes that was the first thing i cooked.it was a finger licking chocolate cake with cream wiped on it!!i still can't forget that!!
2 people like this
• United States
6 Nov 07
cake? Yum..Love that cake..Cake for me please;)
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
6 Nov 07
i've been on my own since I was 13 yrs old so I pretty much HAD to learn to cook and take care of myself..what the first thing was though I really couldnt tell you :-/ It was long ago LOL and I've cooking 1000s of dishes since then :-)
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
Well good thing that you learned young to stand on your own two feet; some people never grow up and are always running to mommy and daddy for every little thing.
• Pakistan
9 Nov 07
I was about 20 when I got married. I had learnt nothing to cook. As cooking was not my responsibility. My wife was responsible for cooking. But she was also not able too cook some thing well and accordingly. I bought a cooking book from bazaar and started to teach my lady that how we should manage to cook. We both were un trained cook. We tried our best to cook well. We failed in many experiments. But as you know it that the practice makes a person perfect. I was 20 years old when I started to learn cooking. And my lady was 19 years old. We both were at zero point of cooking. But now she is better cook than me. We had cook “ Aaloo Gosht”, the Pakistani food i.e. potato with meat. Though this was simple to cook but was very much tough for both of us. We enjoyed our first cooking well and could not for get the first cooking day in our married life.
• United States
15 Nov 07
Aaloo Gosht? are there any kind of seasonings added to this dish? I think I may have been around 17 or 18 when I created my first dish..
@youless (112091)
• Guangzhou, China
7 Nov 07
I forgot how old I was at that time. Perhaps I was about 13 years old. At that time I made a dessert according to a cooking book. The dessert is called double skin milk:)
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
Double skin milk? What exactly is double skin milk ? Is this like a yogurt or cheese or dessert? I never heard of this until today.
@Huying (388)
• China
8 Nov 07
I remember that I am 8 years old when I first learned to cook.In that time,my parents were very busy for their work,they seldom come back home at noon.I have no other idea,and just cook myself and my brother.But I don't remember what item I first cook.
• United States
15 Nov 07
Wow you were only 8 years old when you were cooking..man o man would your parents be in trouble were they here in America..allowing and 8 year old to cook while they are alone at home..Here the rules about caring for children have become more strict.
@pinay81 (1535)
• Philippines
6 Nov 07
when i learn on how to cook im just 18yrs old and the food i cook is bittergourd w/ egg and tomato its good but i put too much salt:-)
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
Bittergourd? You ate a gourd..Is this the same as what we call squash or was it really a gourd. I know here in the usa we use gourds for decorative reason..Sounds like you had a delicious meal out of it;)
@ayou82 (3450)
• Philippines
14 Nov 07
When I was 9.and i cooked soup. And i heard my sister said YUCK!
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Nov 07
Your sister said YUCK? What did you say, or did you not even taste it?LOL